Liu Tienan, former top Chinese energy official, sentenced to life in jail for corruption

Former top energy official and economic policymaker Liu Tienan has been sentenced to life in prison by a Hebei court for bribery and abuse of power.

The sentence was passed by the Intermediate People's Court in Langfang, Hebei, yesterday morning.

The decision came on the same day as a report that Zhang Xinhua, the head of a small Guangdong state-owned company, had became one of just a handful of cadres to be sentenced to death for corruption.

Nanfang Daily reported that Zhang, the former general manager of Baiyun Agribusiness, a subsidiary of Guangzhou Flagship Development Group, amassed about 340 million yuan (HK$430 million) through graft and bribery, making him "the most corrupt official in Guangdong", the judge said.

Meanwhile, Liu, former deputy chief of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), was earlier found guilty of taking more than 35 million yuan (HK$44.2 million) in bribes from five firms, including petrochemical producers and carmakers, from 2002 to 2012. Some of the bribes were collected via his son Liu Decheng, the court heard. Liu Tienan's case was heard in September, when he pleaded guilty.

Despite the large amount of money involved in the case, prosecutors pleaded for leniency for Liu, citing his cooperative attitude while under investigation. They said the former official had volunteered a lot of information on bribes he had taken that investigators had not previously known about. Liu said he had been living in repentance and that he had not only hurt his family but also brought shame to the Communist Party.